


For Better or Worse

by Neverever



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 890fifth, Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, Older Characters, Retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2457497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony wants to retire, Steve isn't ready.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Better or Worse

**Author's Note:**

> A submission for the [890Fifth's](http://890fifth.tumblr.com/) biweekly Steve/Tony prompt challenge. Round Two was "Somewhere down the line."
> 
> Thanks to my beta who was a big help on this.

The waitress didn’t have to ask Tony what he wanted to drink as he waited. He had been coming to this quiet neighborhood restaurant for over thirty years and all the servers knew what he liked. “Will Steve be joining you today?” she asked as she put down the soda water and lime.

“He’s probably running late,” Tony said. 

The waitress winked at him as she left. Tony chuckled. He still had it even in his sixties. Steve teased him all the time about flirting with all the girls and boys, with his hair grey at the temples and wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, his charm, and sharp fashionable suits.

Speaking of Steve, he was already at the hostess station. Tony admired his husband of over thirty years, standing ramrod straight and trim in his winter coat with all the dignity of his many many years of being Captain America. He still looked on the young side, but Tony knew about the laugh lines and the weariness in his soul.

“This is a treat,” Steve said with a smile as he sat down. 

“Special lunch for special times,” Tony said cryptically.

Steve’s face froze. “Did I forget our anniversary?” he asked, panicking. “Wait, the kids didn’t call or send cards.” 

Tony patted his hand. “No. Nothing like that.” He buttered a roll. “I saw the doctor this morning.”

“Doctor?” Steve echoed as he perused the menu and checked the specials card again.

“Yes, a real one. With a real medical degree from a real medical school.” 

Tony began to tense up. He had practiced over and over how he was going to break the news to Steve. The setting was perfect and good food on hand usually smoothed over the roughness of their disagreements. But Steve was not at all going to like what Tony had to say.

“What about?” 

“She said that I can’t keep doing this.” Tony took a deep breath. “My ribs aren’t healing as fast as they used to from that last fight for one thing. Then there’s that persistent problem with my left knee.” He put down the roll and looked at Steve. “It’s time to hang up the jet boots.”

“Retire? You’re thinking of retiring?” Steve asked dumbfounded. 

“I’m not thinking, I’m doing. I’m almost 65 now, Steve. I can’t go on like I’m still thirty. We’ve talked about this before.”

Once their lunch orders were placed, Tony forged ahead with the second part of his plan. “I was hoping that you’d hang up the shield too and join me. You know, do all things we’ve been meaning to do for years.”

Steve coughed as he nearly choked on his water. “I can’t,” he blurted out. “The Avengers -- I’m still needed.”

Tony studied his husband. He could see the tightening of Steve’s jaw line, a sure sign that Steve was upset. “You’ve been after me to take it easy. Now that I am, you won’t,” he stated. 

Steve fiddled with his spoon. “Tony – it’s your health and I understand. But I haven’t ever thought about retirement. I’m still good to go. For long time.” 

“We don’t talk at all about the fact that you’re not aging like the a normal person. Maybe we should.” Steve had only ever talked once about Steve’s deepest fear, that he was not really human anymore, that the serum had completely rewritten what Steve was, and that maybe he was never going to age. Tony could see that fear in Steve’s still clear and bright blue eyes.

“We don’t know that yet,” Steve insisted. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his fingers tapping the table. “I could just be well preserved.”

Tony reached across the table to grab Steve’s hands. “Steve, we’re the last original Avengers. Everyone else is gone or retired. It’s only because of the suit I’ve been able to hang on. But you -- are you really going to stick around until you die on the job?”

“If I’m needed. There’s so much more to do, Tony.”

“So you’re planning on staying in the field until you die,” Tony repeated in disbelief. Tony had never ever won a single argument about getting Steve to take it easy. He sensed he was going to lose this one too. “What are you going to do when you’re old? Hit the supervillains with your cane? Whack them with your walker? Chase them with your scooter? You’ll out-stubborn us all.” 

Steve frowned. “I’d step down if I were that old before it got to that point.”

Pointing his fork at Steve, Tony continued. “And where am I in this equation? Cheering you on from the sidelines in my wheelchair with my oxygen tank?”

“No,” Steve sighed. 

“This is about us and our life together. Do you think it’s fair that I’m left behind?”

“I’m -- I’m not saying that,” Steve said slowly. “No one is trained to take over yet. There are no plans.”

Tony snorted. “Seriously, Steve, the baby-vengers can manage things without us. Sam Junior has been leading teams for awhile now.”

“It’s just Sam now. He doesn’t like Sam Junior since Sam retired to New Mexico.”

“The point is – the point is – Steve, I want to spend more time with you – and –“ Tony stopped and looked out the window to gather his thoughts. “The point is we don’t have all the time in the world. Sure, we’ve probably got another twenty years together. When we were younger, we had a wide open future. But now? I’m tired and you’re tired, and I just want to spend the rest of the time we have together. How many times have we talked about going to Barcelona or Tokyo just to see the sights, and not to fight the latest alien invasion?”

Steve stared down at his plate. “Tony, I don’t know. I can’t see … I just can’t see retiring while I can still contribute.”

They ate their lunch in tense silence. After declining dessert, Steve asked quietly, “Are you serious about retiring?”

“Serious as a heart attack,” Tony replied firmly. “We can talk more about this tonight.”

Steve folded his napkin and carefully set down his silverware. “Okay. I have training sessions this afternoon and some late meetings. I’ll catch you tonight.” He got up and left.

Angry at Steve’s unwillingness to see the truth, Tony paid the check. He wondered how he was going to deal with the most stubborn man in the universe and get him to see that life was changing for them. A long happy marriage, a couple of kids, and decades of superhero work had filed off some of Steve’s edges. But once Steve dug his heels in, it was nigh-on impossible to get him to change his mind. Might be easier for Tony to change his plans. Tony couldn’t really imagine doing things and going places without Steve. And he didn’t want to. Steve was his life.

The next morning Tony was even more irritated and angry than he had been after lunch. Steve hadn’t come home that night. And he wasn’t there in the morning. He hadn’t left any messages or a voice mail or anything. Tony had no idea where Steve was. 

Tony brooded over his coffee and muffin until panic set in. Steve never ever missed calling or sending a text to Tony if he wasn’t going to make it home, unless he was in the middle of fight or had been kidnapped by an alien invader. Contact was the basic rule in their relationship. Because in their line of work no news was definitely not good news.

There was nothing on the news or on his phone. No Avengers alerts or anything. But that didn’t mean a thing. Something bad could be going down and it hadn’t made the news yet.

Tony knew it. He knew that their luck had finally run out and it was just a matter of time before a grief-choked Avenger called to give him the news that Steve had been killed on the job. He wasn’t going to wait around for that call. He would find out on his own. He raced to the Avengers main floor of Stark Tower, to find someone who would fill him in.

He was in the middle of planning Steve’s funeral when the elevator stopped. Assuming he got that chance, and someone in the government didn’t decide to give Steve a big flashy state funeral production. Steve would come back from the dead to kill him if he let that happen.

Curiously, the main floor was empty and no one was around. He checked his phone. Oh, it was still early in the morning and people weren’t up. Unless everyone was off fighting whatever horrible thing had taken Steve out. And they didn’t have time to call Tony yet.

He saw a beaming Sam Junior, in full Falcon costume, leaving Steve’s office. He stopped and said proudly, “Thank you, sir, I won’t let you down.” 

Steve joined him in the doorway. “I don’t think you will, Sam.” He clapped a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Call me when you need someone to win a space war.”

Smiling broadly, Sam nodded in greeting as he walked past Tony.

“What was that about?” Tony asked his husband angrily. “And where the hell have you been?”

Steve, dressed in his workout gear, was taking the shield off the wall hook. “Oh, sorry, I should have called,” he sighed. “But I got busy. Here, read this.” He shoved a piece of paper at Tony.

“Yeah, you should have. I thought you were dead.” Impatiently snatching the paper out of Steve’s hands, Tony dropped down into one of the metal office chairs. Steve’s office was at best a spartan affair, with a desk, chairs, vintage motorcycle posters and a bookshelf. The things that this office had seen over the years, all the crises and the triumphs. 

Tony sat up straight in his chair. The press release in his hand announced that Iron Man and Captain America would be stepping down from the Avengers and that Falcon would be leading the team. 

“Steve …” he gasped in shock. He looked wide-eyed up at his husband.

Steve nodded. “That is going out to all media outlets in fifteen minutes. I can’t take it back.” Leaning against the desk, he gave Tony an unexpectedly bashful smile. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“So, last night was thinking it over.” Probably accompanied by a lot of punching things, Tony thought. Some things had never changed over the years.

Steve looked down at the ground. “I know that we didn’t say for better or worse in our vows, but I made a promise to stick with you regardless of the good or the bad. We’ve seen a lot of bad and a lot of good.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I thought I wasn’t ready to retire. But I can’t shake out of my head what you said about growing older, the future and us. So before I changed my mind, I asked Sam to take over.” 

“You’d do that for me?”

Steve’s eyes twinkled as he smiled broadly. “Yes. Yes, I would. We’ve built a life together and you are everything. I signed up for this.”

He continued, saying, “I’m not going cold turkey though. I plan to stick around for training and mission planning, just like you’re not giving up the tech design. But I’m not leading the Avengers in the field or handling the operations.” He walked to stand next to Tony and put his hand on his shoulder. “Go ahead and book that round-the-world trip you’ve been desperate to take.”

Tony squeezed Steve’s hand. “Thank you for this,” he said, his face lit with happiness.

Steve hugged him, kissing the top of his head and ruffling his silvered hair. “It’s you and me, Shellhead. And that’s the way we’ve been and the way we need to keep it.”

He shrugged. “I’m keeping the shield though.”

“It’s not coming on the trip with us,” Tony stated.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [From This Day Forward (The Somewhere Down The Line Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9916592) by [magicasen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicasen/pseuds/magicasen)




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